The Fifth Marauder
by ourgrowingpains
Summary: Do you believe in fate? Tell me, when you think of love do you think of hate? This is the story of a friendship built on blood and war. Maggie never chose this life, but somehow fate does a funny thing and gives you the exact thing you didn't even know you needed. JP/LE SB/OC Marauders first year through Harry's last.


-Chapter 1 (Where Endings Become Beginnings)-

Maggie Helprin had always been odd and spectacular. She came into this world kicking and screaming; her tiny lungs demanding she be heard. Her mother always claimed she'd grow to be wild. But, even as a baby Maggie's father never cared for her antics.

Maggie, ever the curious and reckless little thing she was, came home day after day covered in dirt and sand from her endless exploring of the forest and sea.

"There's a world out there, Mama! And I've got to see it all!" Maggie would say whenever her mother asked why she loved the outdoors.

But one day, just a few short months after Maggie turned ten, Helen Helprin fell ill. Dorota, Maggie's nanny, cared for Helen as much as she could until her efforts would not be enough to prevent the inevitable.

Helen lay on her bed, labored breaths and all, but the faintest of smiles still graced her once beautiful face.

"Don't you fret now, my love," Helen whispered to Maggie, who curled up to her mother's side like she once did as a child. "Death is but the next great adventure."

Maggie almost laughed. Almost. Her mother had read the muggle story Peter Pan to her countless of times, and if Maggie had not been so sad that their adventures together will now end, she would had giggled.

Maggie's father stayed seated next to her mother. His constant present scowl growing deeper, the lines etched on his face making him look angry, scarier.

"How long will I love you?" Helen asked Maggie, with labored and uneven breaths.

Maggie sniffled and rubbed her little nose. "As long as stars are above me."

"Longer if I may." Helen finished.

"Will we ever see each other again?" Maggie questioned.

Helen ran her hand through Maggie's curls that are very much like her own. "Oh but of course, my love. I will be watching over you always. I will never be far away, because the ones we love most never truly leave us. I'll be right here." Helen put her hand on Maggie's chest, "you can find me in the stars," Helen whispers one very last time. Though the life dimmed from Helen's lifeless eyes, her last smile remained.

Maggie's father stormed out of the room. She believed it was out of grief.

"Mr. Marcus is a very sad man, Miss. Maggie." Dorota tried to soothe her.

Maggie didn't know if it had been minutes or hours until Dorota finally coaxed her away from her mother's body. The next day, her mother had been put into the ground where she would now always remain.

Dorota handed Maggie sunflowers, her mother's favorite, and laid them against the stone. They stayed there for what seemed like hours, Maggie waiting and hoping for her father to join them; to help ease the pain of losing her mother. She hoped they'd grieve together, but her father never came.

Maggie never understood her father. All she knew was he is a very important man, essential to the cause.

Whatever that meant.

One of the house elves came solemnly, his head bowed. "Mr. Helprin is a very busy man. He work to attend to and sends his apologies and condolences.

"Are you sorry he couldn't come or is he?" Maggie questioned.

"Maggie!" Dorota hissed, "mind your tongue!"

Maggie didn't mean to come across angry at the elf. She just couldn't escape her growing loneliness.

Dinner that night seemed out of place and unreal, the place where her mother sat all too empty.

Maggie found herself staring at her father, noting no similarities between he and she. He caught her eye and she quickly diverted her gaze down to her uneaten dinner.

"You have your mothers hair. And her eyes." He said as he swallowed. With one final passing look between Maggie and the place where her mother once sat, he left the dining room in a great hurry.

Maggie sighed and put her head in her palm. She missed her mother so much in this moment it hurt her heart.

This is how Maggie would spend the rest of her days, silent, awkward meals and no interaction with her father and always missing her mother.

But as Maggie grew, so did her curiosity and lust for adventure, only to find that it had never really begun.

-One -year later-

Maggie Helprin, who was dripping wet from her swim in the sea, stuck her head through the back door. She searched for house elves and Dorota, and when satisfied that the coast was clear, she began to run to her room, only to be stopped by her nannie's cries.

"Miss Maggie!" Dorota exclaimed, "If you keep running around soaking like a mop you'll take a fall and break your arm again!"

Maggie shrugged off her nanny's worries. Maggie never cared for rules.

Dorota humped in disapproval but smirked as she held the letter addressed to Maggie. "An owl dropped this off not too long ago, Miss."

Maggie smiled as she tore open her Hogwarts letter, but she was sure to keep quite as her father would disapprove of loud squeals and laughter. He was a very busy, and very important man.

Dorota watched as Maggie's hazel eyes darted over the ink, informing her of her acceptance into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"It's okay to be exited Miss Maggie," Dorota encouraged.

Maggie only nodded.

Later that night, dinner with her father held the same consistent rhythm of clinking forks on plates, their own language in conversation.

Maggie cleared her throat. "Father?"

Marcus Helprin hummed in response, eyes not moving from his very important work.

"I got my Hogwarts letter today," Maggie says in a small voice.

"Excellent. You'll make wonderful peers in Slytherin."

Maggie nodded her head. She knew better than to argue her father. He had a strong hand.

"I'll have Dorota take you to collect all of your materials," her father said as he rose from the table.

"Yes, father." Maggie agreed.

She watched him disappear through the same doors he always came and went through and she wondered why he always seemed so distant. Had she done something to offend him? Did she disobey one of his many rules?

"Come Miss Maggie," Dorota beckoned, "let's get you up to bed. Tomorrow we shop, yes?"

Maggie nodded though her thoughts still remained consumed with her father and the always, empty presence he left.

-Next day-

The first thing Maggie noticed when she entered Olivander's Wand Shop were the towering piles of boxes. She wondered how Olivander had the time to make so many wands.

"Hello," Olivander stood behind the desk, "and who might you be?"

"Maggie Helprin," she said with a small smirk. Olivander looked funny. He had crazy white hair and a smile that could have fooled Maggie that it was Christmas.

"Helprin, is it?" Olivander said. "Many Helprin's have passed through here."

There was a glint to the old man's eyes. He was odd, yes, but there was something, a thing Maggie could not say, but he seemed to be in on the greatest secret and the whole world is laughing.

Olivander began piling more boxes in front of her, and each wand she held dejected her in some way or another. That is until Olivander began excitedly tapping his chin and went to the back of the store, mumbling something about how he should have thought of it sooner.

Maggie looked up to Dorota, confused by the old mans antics. Dorota only smothered her laughter.

Olivander came back; box in hand and a wide grin.

"This one. Yes, this one should do the trick." He handed Maggie the box. "9 ½ inches, oak wood and with phoenix feather core."

Maggie rolled the wand around her hands, and instead of the wood feeling cool to the touch, her hand grew warmer. It seeped up her palm and through her arm until she almost wanted to smile.

The tip of the wand lit up and Olivander clapped once. "Excellent!"

Dorota went to pay, but Maggie continued to examine her wand. She was elated to finally have a wand of her own, but somehow the more she rolled it around in her hands, the more it seemed like it was coming to know her. She always knew it was the wand that picked the wizard, and perhaps this once isolated wand knew of Maggie's particular solemnness. Perhaps that is why it chose her. They both knew of the same loneliness and detachment somehow.

"Come, Maggie!" Dorota held the door for Maggie and she pulled the beanie she wore closer to her head, the chill in the air catching up with her.

They walked down the cobbled path of Diagon Alley until Maggie stopped them. She saw a golden owl hooting in the window of the pet shop and instantly Maggie adored it.

"Oh Dorota, please!" Maggie begged as she tugged on the woman's hand.

Dorota looked from Maggie to the owl and pursed her lips. "Oh fine," she finally huffed, "but you write to Dorota every week, yes?"

Maggie nodded her head so fiercely her curls jumped with the movement.

Once paid for and in its cage, Dorota asked, "What shall you name it?"

Maggie thought about it for a moment, her head tilted to the side as she examined the bird. It was a golden barn owl with big eyes. The owl would ask as a messenger of sorts between her and Dorota who would live at home. Maggie remembered a book about Greek mythology and a god named Hermes who was a messenger that passed through hell everyday.

"Hermes," she decided.

Dorota rolled her eyes but didn't pester her.

-One -week later-

"Do you think he'll come?" Maggie asked a she stood on the tips of her toes, craning her neck to peer over the heads of the passerby's.

Dorota looked at her watch. "I'm sorry, Miss. I'm sure he'll write."

Maggie nodded, and swallowed, her blinking escalating. "Of course he will."

Dorota patter her shoulder. "I believe this is where we part."

Maggie turned to Dorota with a sad smile. She's had Dorota to rely on her entire life, and Maggie didn't know a life without her in it. She hugged the woman tightly.

"I'll miss you Dorota."

"Yes, me too." Maggie wasn't sure, but it almost seemed like her voice begun to quiver. "Write to me dear." Dorota kissed both her cheeks. "Before you go," Dorota said, "this is from your mother."

Maggie took the envelope that had her name on it and she traced over her mothers writing. Maggie smiled up at Dorota and with a final wave, went through the stone.

She passed through the stonewall and on the other side students and their families were running about with final goodbyes.

She weaved through the crowd and began towards the train. The gleaming red paint mystified Maggie and she couldn't remember a time she saw something so beautiful.

Maggie wondered the inside of the train, looking for an empty compartment. She dodged flying airplanes, and other exploding things but Maggie couldn't help but let a laugh escape. Everything was so daring and free and wild.

She loved it.

She went down a few carts further and found the least occupied compartment. There was boy who sat by himself and seemed to be her age so she opened the door.

"Hello," she knocked, "do you mind? I can't seem to find anywhere else."

The boy, who had shaggy sandy hair and many odd scars, shifted in his seat. He looked around nervously and Maggie took that as he wanting to be alone, so as she began to exit he stopped her.

"Yes," he said suddenly, "come in." He wiped his hands on his pants and continued, "My name is Remus Lupin." He extended his hand.

Maggie tried not seem too inquisitive of Remus but shook his hand nonetheless. "Maggie Helprin."

Silence never bothered Maggie. She had plenty experience with it, but Remus' constant shifting eyes made her nervous.

What was once silence became utter chaos. Maggie and Remus jumped as the door to their compartment flew open and two boys came barreling in. Laughing as they did so.

Another boy with dark greasing hair came in as well, but not as mirthlessly as the previous two.

"Oh come on," the one with glasses said, "we said we're sorry."

"You arrogant, good for nothing-"

"Hey!" Maggie interjected, "don't be rude!"

"Shut your mouth you insillinet girl!" He argued.

Remus stood up and glared at the boy. "I think it would be best if you left."

"Yeah Snape, beat it!" The curly haired boy laughed.

Maggie rolled her eyes. He wasn't doing anything to help their current situation.

The Snape boy gave them all one last glare and left with huff.

"Thanks for that." The boy with messy hair and crooked glasses said. "You were right fantastic there. We ran into Snape and dropped his books, he shoved me so we tripped him and ran away," the boy extended his hand, "My name's James Potter, and this here is Sirius Black."

"I'm Maggie Helprin," she said.

"Sorry about Snape," Sirius said, "he's a bloody Slitherin prick."

Maggie's eyebrows rose.

"What?" Remus scoffed.

"Slytherin's are horrible. They are all prejudice and evil." Sirius continued.

"I don't know much about the houses. No one really taught me much about them." Remus said, his cheeks growing pink with embarrassment.

"Ravenclaw is for the smart people, Huffelpuff the loyal, Slytherin the ambitious but everyone there is soil and foul. Then there's Gryffindor- for the brave," said Sirius.

"Well I want to be in Gryffindor! Where the brave dwell at heart, just like my dad!" James said, while posing as if he had a sword in one hand as the other rested on his hip, his chest puffed out.

Maggie, Sirius and Remus laughed and all began looking around as the train was starting to slow and soon came to a complete stop. The three friends made their way out of the train to find a rather large, hairy man shouting for first years to, "fullo meh to the boats." As all the first years followed the man who's name Maggie learned was Hagrid, they came to a stop in front of a large lake where boats were perched on the shore.

"Make sure yeh have fourah to ah boat!" said Hagrid. James, Sirius and Remus were already running towards the closest boat, laughing on the way.

"Come on Maggie! We saved you a seat!" yelled Sirius. Maggie made her way to the boat, Sirius making sure she didn't slip. When Maggie sat down, the boat automatically started to push its way of the shore; Maggie smiled. Man she loved magic.

The lights in the front the boats illuminated the way, and you could hear the collective gasping as the students got their first glimpses at the castle.

Hagrid did this every year, and it never got old.

The castle must have been more then ten times the size of the Buckingham Palace, Maggie thought. She looked around and sure enough, everyone had the same awestruck look in his or her eyes like she did.

"Beautiful isn't?" asked Sirius. Maggie nodded, not wanting to look away just yet. As Maggie marveled at the castle, one thought stayed in her mind.

Welcome home.


End file.
